


Stories

by CrystalQueer



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Historical Inaccuracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 06:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13405770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalQueer/pseuds/CrystalQueer
Summary: Phillip asks Anne to tell him a story, and she does. Then she asks him to tell her a story, and he does. And then they're up all night swapping stories and having a good time.





	Stories

"Hey Anne," said Phillip. "Tell me a story."

They were sitting on the rooftop of the apartment building they lived in, watching the stars. They had just had a picnic under the half-full moon and all in all it was very romantic, just sitting in silence enjoying each other's company.

"About what?" Anne asked.

"About you." Phillip replied.

"Hm," she thought for a couple minutes. "Why?"

"Why not?"

She sighed. "Okay, fine, wanna hear how I learned to read?"

Phillip looked a tiny bit confused. "Sure?"

Anne cleared her throat dramatically. "When I was a little girl, I was wild and rowdy. Hated sitting still. W.D. and I spent hours outside climbing trees and playing chase."

"You, wild and rowdy?" Phillip said with mock surprise. "I never would have thought-"

"Shush." Anne said. He shushed and she continued. "Mama knew how to read and write, and she wanted her kids to know too. W.D. took to it, o course, but I did not. She could barely get me to sit down to do my hair, so this was near impossible. But mama was clever she figured out a way."

Anne rarely spoke about her childhood, not because it had been unhappy, but because she just didn't think she needed to share. Not many of the performers at the circus talked about their pasts. But she liked telling Phillip, if she could open up to anyone, it was him.

"Mama must've had W.D. climb some trees in the night because one morning I woke up, we had breakfast, did our chores and then when I ran off to hide in the trees before we were made to read, mama called me back and said, "we're gonna play a game."" She smiled fondly as she remembered, Phillip leaned towards her, intrigued.

"I was curious and always up for a good game, so she explained to me that I could climb the tall tree that she never let me or W.D. climb, but there were words pinned next to all the branches, and I couldn't climb higher until I read the word."

"That's pretty smart." Phillip commented.

"Mama was a smart woman," Anne replied. "Anyway, I was super excited until I got to the first branch and the first word. It was really easy, I think it was "welcome" and I couldn't get it. W.D. came up and whispered answers to me until mama told him he couldn't help me."

Phillip chuckled. "Knowing your brother he continued to help you anyway?"

"Well, no. Once I got the hang of figuring out words mama made it a competition. We'd read the words, of course, but we'd have to do it fast because first one to the top didn't have to do chores the next day. W.D. won a lot." She smiled smugly. "But I managed to get a winning streak going 'cause I got smarter."

"But then mama changed the game, she had us tack up spare scraps of paper and carry pencils and we had to write stuff, drop it down to her, and if she approved we could move on. She made that a competition too."

"Did you ever win?" He asked.

"Of course I did!" Anne exclaimed. "..eventually."

"Must've been a lot of fun." Phillip commented with a smile. "My tutors were far more boring."

"Hey Phil," said Anne. "Tell me a story."

"What, you want to hear about my boring childhood?"

"C'mon, I'm sure you have at least _one_ interesting story. Like some sort of screw up at a party or something?" Maybe she wanted something to tease him over. Maybe.

But she really did want to know more about his childhood, like her, he didn't talk about his past much, and if he was willing to share she'd love to listen. Phillip wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. "Okay." He agreed.

"When I was a boy," he started. "Father insisted I take horse riding lessons, because any boy of my status knew how to ride a horse. Problem is, horses terrified me." Anne snorted a laugh and he shot her a look, she quickly stifled it but couldn't hide her grin.

"Look," he said, "horses were very big and I was intimidated by them." There was a brief pause. "Anyway, the horse I was going to have lessons on was this big gray mare named Rose, and she was supposedly real gentle and unspookable, and the first lesson? That was fine, the second lesson.."

"What?" Anne asked, head tilted slightly.

"Well, the "unspookable horse" Rose spooked on a windy day, she went running the down the side of the arena, entirely out of control and I barely clung on.. She ended up throwing me off and over a fence." He grimaced at the memory. "It was not fun. Luckily, I was bruised but mostly unhurt! I never road again."

"I wish I could ride a horse," Anne said softly. "Briefly, W.D. worked in a barn, the horses were beautiful! I never got to ride though, for a number of reasons." she sighed.

"The circus has horses," Phillip began, looking at her with a glint in his eye, she narrowed her eyes slightly.

"I think we could borrow them sometime," he continued, a smile growing on his face. Confusion flitted across Anne's face for a moment before she realized what he was saying.

"But aren't you scared of horses?" she asked.

"With you, I can get over any fear. Besides, I'm a lot bigger now, I think I can handle it."

**Author's Note:**

> The ending is not my best, but this was still fun! It's been sitting in my drafts for a g e s.
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @appleciderwriting for more writing!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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